I didn’t know a lot about Alain Resnais’ Hiroshima Mon Amour before I saw it, but I had seen “Night and Fog” which is one of the most moving short films that I’ve ever seen. So I was expecting something poetic, but I was often surprised by the style, tone and direction of Hiroshima Mon Amour. It’s one of those films that seems to be ahead of its time and I often forgot that it was actually released in 1959, which makes it 46 years old. A love story that manages to combine history, archival footage and photographs with a very intimate relationship that happens over a period of a few days. With a fragmented structure that seamlessly combines disparate elements, it’s an influential and beautiful film that becomes greater than the sum of its beautiful parts.

I was not among those at Hiroshima who got radiation from the atomic bomb, but Resnais’ film most certainly radiated my heart, and I still have a lifetime scar which has not healed.

« Tu n’as rien vu. » – this phrase has echoed over the years, “You have seen nothing.”

Most films barely survive over the weekend in my memory. Only a handful have managed to scorch my consciousness. The intensity of Hiroshima Mon Amour has never been transcended.